Françoise Legey / Maréchal Lyautey - Essai de Folklore marocain [Reliure à décor oriental] - 1926

Original edition of this beautiful essay on Morocco given by Françoise Legey (1896-1935), a French doctor who dedicated her career in Algeria and Morocco to women's health.

Rebound in a magnificent full brown morocco binding, adorned on the front cover with a large blind-stamped plaque highlighted with oriental motifs, double gold fillet framing it, smooth and unadorned spine, double gold borders on the back cover. Endpapers (decorated with a blind-stamped grid) and flyleaves lined with emerald leather. Covers and spine preserved.

Illustrated with 17 full-page plates outside the text, each featuring two black and white photographs, accompanied by captioned legends.

In good condition. Very beautiful binding, well preserved, with discreet stains on the covers, a slightly faded spine, minor scuffs on the corners and at the headbands. Printed on fine paper (vellum?), foxing on the endpapers and rare pinholes in the text. A small tear in the margin of a page. A fine copy, uncommon.

In summary: Constructions and trades, the earth, the sky, the waters, flora, fauna, the creation of man, birth, childhood and adolescence, love and marriage, illness and death, nutrition, human relationships, adornment.

At the same time as her collection of 'Contes et Légendes Populaires du Maroc' (1926), Madame Légey gathered a wealth of information on beliefs and rituals that accompanied all moments of Moroccan life, whether urban or rural. Her position as a woman doctor in Morocco from 1910 for 25 years, the trust she inspired in her thousands of patients, and her mastery of the Arabic language allowed her access to the most authentic sources of these traditions.

Legey, Françoise
Moroccan folklore essay, with a preface letter by Marshal Lyautey. 17 plates / Doctor Legey.
Orientalist Library Paul Geuthner (Paris) 1926
236 pages: illustrations; octavo (24.5 x 19 cm)